Thursday, February 26, 2009

Memery

Via Nick......

I have: A wonderful relationship with my wife, a sense of wonder about the world and a feeling that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I wish: I could fly (no, really), that I had no need for money, that certain things in my life weren’t so damned difficult and that certain members of my extended family could have perfect health.

I fear: the worst but hope for the best.

I wonder: how bad things will get before people have had enough.

I regret: A few things in my life but nothing that hinders my progress as an evolving human being

I love: My wife and my family, photography, music, cooking, red wine, good beer, malt whisk(e)y, reading and thinking.

I always: Wonder if I could have done it better, look for the good points in people, get disappointed in males of the macho bullshit persuasion as they haven’t evolved past adolescence yet, enjoy good food and good company.

I usually: sit back and watch those around me puff their chests out and laugh inwardly whilst they do it, cook in our house, laugh out loud at things which I find amusing and scratch my head at people who are selfish.

I am not: a fan of sport, a political animal/career ladder climber or a fan of laddishness.

I dance: far too infrequently nowadays though I used to do so on a weekly basis.
I sing: the odd time, not too often.

I never: eat meat, say never, play rugby, juggle, hurt other people to get ahead.

I rarely: get really angry, shout at people, say snide things or fart in public.

I cry: on occasion, last time being the end of Gran Torino (who would have thunk it?)


I need: to get fit, to continue with my plan for growing vegetables in the back garden, the love of my wife, to keep in touch with old friends more often.

I should: Be more positive, more conscientious, care more about those around me and pay more attention to peoples micro expressions so I know when they are lying to me! ( I’m getting better at it)

Fight The Power II

Fight The Power II

So, Sir David Omand has come up with the idea that none of us should have any privacy.
I think we should start with him and publicly display transcripts of all his conversations, anything ever typed on his computer, all his travel plans and arrangements and let’s throw caution to the wind, details of his children too.

Do you think he would think it a good idea?

I think not.

This little fascist will lead the government into deciding that this is “best” for us all.
He must be stopped.

This is the road to fascism, just ask the people of former East Germany. They were shocked and amazed at the scope of the intrusion into their lives.
They found out after the wall came down.

The Stasi had samples of their clothing kept in jars so as to aid sniffer dogs, should they need to. Not if they were after someone suspected of true criminality but samples of EVERYONE.

This is what Herr Omand wants. Total lack of privacy for the entire population.

FIGHT THE POWER !

We must not let this happen.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Yes M'lud

I spent the day in court yesterday....no it wasn't me in the stand.
Very interesting day, watching the machinations of a defense QC working his magic.

I watched a colleague have himself a new arsehole torn by a QC over a period of 3 hours. Ow, that was vicious. Glad it wasn't me up there.

Boy was it rough, seemingly, if you have the money you can hire some really vicious toe-rags to operate on your behalf and I don't mean the beat your teeth in kind. Whooooo.

He looked like he enjoyed it too. My colleague didn't, needless to say.
I hope he went home and relaxed after it.

I reckon it would take me ten hours of T'ai Chi to recover from that, or a bottle of red wine, whichever was easiest.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Electrickery

We just got the quarterly electricity bill in the post.

Bloody hell!!!!!

It has nearly doubled and we have stopped using the tumble dryer by more than half.

Th unit price is now 16.88 pence.

Living in NI we have no choice as to whom we buy our electricity from.

A monopoly situation. We are being fleeced.

Sunday, February 01, 2009

What's goin' on.....?

I have been reading on the net about various events that have been occurring around the world. Events that make me worried as the very fabric of our society seems to be at risk. Hear me out, I have ranted a few times before on this blog but check these things out for yourself.
The collapse of Iceland and the anti government rioting that ensued, the use of pepper spray - I laugh when I read the word spray, it is more like a jet of liquid- against photographers...just what is going on? This is an island of 320,000 people or so with the population of a large town. They don't have any "armed forces", that is armed forces for external aggression, just the police to keep "law and order". Funny that, no defense of the nation, just the govt being able to defend itself against the people. What is happening in Iceland is a wake up call for all other countries.
Latvia, Bulgaria and let's not forget Greece have had riots recently. These are ALL anti government riots. This is not normal behaviour, especially in Iceland, or the Baltic states where they lived under the iron boot of communism for so long. Greece has always had a reputation for it's people standing up to the government, lets not forget they lived under a military dictatorship not that long ago which suppressed freedom of thought and freedom of the press, though thankfully for only 7 odd years.
Enough about the past, let's think about right now. The age of abundance is over, those in power are trying their hardest to hang on to the way things were. This is not going to work. Finite resources cannot fuel infinite growth. World trade is slowing down, fast. Container ships are lying at anchor with skeleton crews as there is no work for them. Governments are using barter as a method of trade as currency values are heading downwards.

The last time things were this bad was after the stockmarket crash of 1929. When things got bad then, we saw the rise of National Socialism in Germany after their economy collapsed. In the past week or so we have a prominent government minister in NI saying that all jobs available should be given to locals as opposed to those who do not originate from this country. He needs to keep the local electorate on his side , I suppose. Power wokers are striking all over the country over the same issue, jobs for locals and not "johnny foreigner". I remember the last major power strike here, though I was but a nipper. Could this happen again? I say yes, most definitely. When economic depression hits, people want to blame it all on someone. That someone is the other, the foreigner.

If we don't learn from history we are doomed to repeat it, ad infinitum...

The paradigm of spend, spend, spend, spend is more than over. It was only revealed last week that the entire UK banking system was close to total collapse last October.
Imagine if the banks stop operating. Everything else stops too, in time. Scary.
The goverment giving money to the banks and expecting us to pay for it is a sick joke. Our great grandchildren will be paying this debt off and the banks will still be using our money to make profits.

I fear for the future but I am preparing for it, so should you. Just remember, our supermarkets operate on a three day ordering system for delivery.....shops completely empty in a weekend if things get bad. Really scary.

On a brighter note..........................................that's for another post.
Northern Irish bloggers
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